St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Aided Infants School, Alvescot

Schoolroom Two Inspection report for early years provision

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123189 Unique Reference Number 11 February 2008 Inspection date Lorna Lorraine Hall Inspector

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Southfields Lawn Tennis Club Ltd, Gressenhall Road, London, SW18 1PQ

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Setting Address

0208 874 9305 or 07961 397 743 Telephone number Janet_Jakeman@schoolroomtwo.co.uk E-mail Janet Christine Jakeman Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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Setting Address

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

School Room Two Montessori Nursery has been registered since 1994. The nursery operates from a tennis club in Southfields, south west London. The area is well served by public transport and the majority of children attending come from the local vicinity. A maximum of 24 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 09.15 to 15.15, for 33 weeks of the year. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 35 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Of these 18 children receive funding for nursery education. The nursery currently supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs four members of staff, including the provider/manager who work with the children. They hold appropriate early years qualifications. Additionally five teachers provide extra curriculum activities including, music, tennis, French, drama, and yoga.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery receives support from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children's health is successfully promoted through effective hygiene routines that are effectively carried out. As the main sinks in the children's bathroom are high a number of mobile sinks are strategically placed to allow the children to wash their hands independently. Weekly Yoga sessions with an external tutor help the children to learn how their bodies work. For example, breathing exercise and they talk about how they feel when they move different parts of their body.

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Helping children to be healthy

Clear written information ensures that short and long term medication is administered correctly. In the past some staff attended training on how to administer an epi-pen. Accidents to the children are dealt with appropriately because most of the staff team hold up to date first aid knowledge.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy healthy and nutritious snacks. They help staff to prepare the fruit at snack time. Through discussion they learn about healthy eating. Children comment that carrots and grapes are very healthy and talk about using fruit to make smoothies. They help themselves to fresh drinking water throughout the day.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's health is further promoted because they enjoy structured play in the garden. They wear a variety of caps such as "bat man" and run around in the garden or climb complex assault course with slide. Jumping over milk crates and crawl through tunnels and tennis with a qualified coach are just a few of the outdoor activities they engage in. Some of the children show good balance as they walk on stilts and tiptoe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a bright and well organised environment. Their art work is attractively displayed to create a child friendly environment. The main class room is carefully organised with free standing play resources and child size furniture. Children are happy and relaxed in the school and competently carry delicate china and glass items to different parts of the room. They demonstrate good co-ordination as they bend their knees to put item on shelves or stand and play with Montessori items. Space is organised to enable the children to enjoy structured physical activities indoors.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children can choose from a good range of natural resources such as wooden blocks. The toys are suitable for their age and stage of development and they are kept in good order. Storage furniture is the right height for them to comfortably access learning resources. Areas of learning are easily identified and well resourced to successfully promote learning. Children make progress in their learning because they can see at a glance what is available.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Effective safety devices are fitted to promote the children's understanding of safety. For example, visitors are asked to sign themselves in and out of the building. Staff can see who is entering the building through the glass door and windows. Staff have a good understanding of health and safety for the environment in which they work. The tennis courts are used by members of the public so members of staff are extra vigilant to ensure that the main gate is manned at all times. Fire doors are clearly labelled and a record of fire drill is kept. However, the procedure is not displayed for parents or visitors to the nursery to see.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Risks to the children are minimised because staff carry out regular risk assessments. Proper systems are in place to ensure that the building complies with fire recommendations.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Good arrangements are made so that children are escorted safely on outings. For example, children wear clothing and a badge with the school details. Suitable policies and procedures promote their safety on outings. The school are members of the 'Traffic club' this means a member from the club will visit the school to talk to staff, parents and the children about safety on the road.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected from possible signs of abuse or neglect because staff have a sound knowledge and understanding of child protection issues. They have access to appropriate documentation to support their practice.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children strive in a rich learning environment where they have day long access to excellent learning resources. Children under three enjoy activities that are planned under the headings set out in the Birth to three matters framework. Members of staff know the children well and ensure they are fully supported to enjoy learning through play. The children explore and investigate a variety of textured materials to create beautiful collages.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Their individual learning needs are successfully met through well-planned play experiences appropriate to their stage and age of development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children benefit from the undivided attention of staff that talk to them and focus on their needs throughout the session.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good because staff have a secure knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Members of staff plan and deliver a broad range of play activities and experiences across the six areas of learning. Children make good progress because staff listen to them and clearly explain what they want the children to do. For example, a member of staff supervises the children as they cut the fruits at snack time and when they wash their cups. Staff respect the children and allow them to make choices during their play. Consequently, children are motivated and interested as they make a positive contribution to their learning in a meaningful way. Staff make good use observations and assessments to plan for the children's learning. However, due to the amount of activities staff sometimes miss the learning that might be taking place during the different activities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are polite and well behaved. They say excuse me as they line up to go outside. They build strong relationship with each other and are seen standing in the book corner talking to their friends or sharing a book. Their self esteem is greatly promoted and they hang their coats on pegs with their picture on. They proudly show their work to staff and say they are going to take it home. They greet staff on arrival and quickly engage in an activity. They make choices in their play, 'Miss J we don’t want to do it', then stand back and observe and join in when its time for their favourite action such as galloping like a horse. Older children hug and kiss their siblings. Their independence is fostered well as they carefully carry jugs of juice from the serving table and pour into cups.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Children enjoy looking at books and listening to stories. The book corner is inviting with colourful posters, a tape recorder, cassettes and a felt board with words and pictures for the children to create their own story. Their communication, language and literacy skills are promoted because they have lots of opportunities to write for a variety of reasons using different writing implements. Outside there is a white board and large strips of wall paper with coloured felt pens for them to mark on. They confidently write their names on craft work and regularly practise their writing skills in their individual writing book.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children speak clearly, and initiate conversation with visitors to the nursery in an attempt to get information. Tracing letters in the sand and play with programmable phonic games further develop their listening and reading skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are encouraged to notice print in the environment and understand that print carries meaning. For example, they self register as they arrive.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use different sized bricks to explore size and shapes. Most of the children can count reliably up to 10 and beyond. They use their mathematical language to describe processes such as more or less and name unfamiliar shapes such as tubes. Play with beads and pegs enables the children to observe and recreate patterns. Through activities such as cooking, they learn about weight and capacity as they weigh the different ingredients. They predict which egg timer will finish first. Height chart and graphs help them to learn about proportion. They use graphs to show how many children have blond hair and height chart to measure the children. They trace numbers in the sand. There are lots of opportunities for them to use their mathematical language to problem solve. They count the number of children and then decide how many chairs to set out. During shop play they explore subtraction and adding.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children benefit from continuity of care because parents share useful information at registration about children's individual needs. Beautiful display of Chinese New Year provides good opportunities for the children to learn about other cultures. Children talk about going to Greece on the aeroplane. The welcome poster is printed in different languages and shows children from around the world.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Members of staff have developed good links with outside agencies to support them in their work. The manager has attended appropriate training to work with children and families who have learning disabilities. To show their commitment to the children the manager visits children in their home to observe sessions with the speech therapist. There are lots of Makaton symbols displayed around the class room.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The children are well behaved; their self esteem is promoted because they receive praise and encouragement from staff. They are well behaved because staff prepares them for the next activity. A sticker system is used to encourage them. Staff have good knowledge and understanding of how to handle children's behaviour because they have attended courses such as 'Raising the achievement of boys.'

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents receive good information about the nursery, policies and procedures through newsletters and the nursery prospectus. The school's

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Helping children make a positive contribution

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 website is updated regularly with information that the manager needs to pass on to parents, parents also use the website to pass on information to staff. Parents attend parents' evenings where they meet with staff to discuss their children's progress. Staff provides a clear picture of children's progress to share with parents to enable them to contribute to the next steps in their child's learning. As a measure of good practice, parents can complete parents/ teacher communication forms which they can also use to comment on the service they receive. To promote consistency in care parents are encouraged to spend time in the school to settle their children.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Effective systems are in place to ensure that staff working with the children have completed approved vetting procedures and they are suitably qualified. More that 50% of the staff team hold recognised childcare qualification.

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Organisation

Staff are effectively deployed to ensure that the children are fully supported to enjoy structured and free play several times throughout the session. This means that staff follows the children's lead. The organisation of the days contributes significantly to the children's health, safety, enjoying and achieving and their ability to make positive contribution to their learning in an organised environment.

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Organisation

All of the necessary documents and records are in place according to regulation. Staff and visitors are included on the register of attendance. The register shows the children's times of arrival and departure. A complaints record is in place and ready for use if there is a need. The written policies and procedures that guide staff in their work are displayed in the class room and on the notice board outside.

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Organisation

Leadership and management are good; the manager's hands on approach means that she has a positive impact on the care and education of the children. Consequently, staff work well together and are clear about their roles and responsibilities. The manager knows the staff's strength and weaknesses and has a rota system to ensure all staff are involved in the different aspects of the curriculum. Planning, staff meetings and discussions ensure that staff deliver good learning experiences for the funded children, indoor and outdoors. To show their commitment to continual improvements, staff are fully supported to attend training. The school has developed strong links with outside agencies to support them in their work with the children across the curriculum.

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Organisation

The setting meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Good progress has been made in addressing the two recommendations made at the last inspection; staff have attended child protection training and now have a secure knowledge and understanding of what to do should a concern arise. Portable sinks are available for the children to wash their hands independently. The progress made in addressing these recommendations improves the outcome for children.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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Complaints since the last inspection

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • display the procedures for the emergency evacuation of the building

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • continue to develop the recording of observations and assessments to plan for the children's individual learning

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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